News: Man Of Steel Teaser Trailer Debuted At San Diego Comic Con

Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel was a big part of the Legendary Pictures/Warner Bros. panel at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend. Snyder introduced a teaser trailer for the new Superman film that we’ll all be able to see before The Dark Knight Rises from this Friday. As for now we’ll just have to make do with a description of the action that went down.

The reports I’ve seen have been mixed, but leaning towards favourable. The look is different from your usual Zack Snyder style, focussing on handheld shots and loose framing, a lot like the Bourne films by Paul Greengrass. As for the action, we see Clark Kent as a child, running around and playing in a cape. Older, as a teenager, he’s seen saving a school bus full of his classmates after it plunges off a bridge into a river. Kevin Costner’s Jonathan Kent says “People are afraid of what they don’t understand” and unveils the craft that brought Superman to Earth. “It’s not from this world, Clark. And neither are you.”

A grown up and bearded Clark (Henry Cavill) is heard saying “All these questions, like where do I come from.”, looking miserable, and is seen meeting Jor-El (Russell Crowe), though it isn’t ascertained whether it was on Krypton or the Fortress Of Solitude. Jonathan Kent says “It was left to you to decide what kind of man you want to be, Clark. Whatever that man is, good or bad, he’s going to change the world.”

Then there are lots of little clips showing Superman naked and apparently on fire. He clutches a baby while Metropolis explodes around him, and flies and catching a falling person. A force throws him into the safe you see above. Another shot shows him handcuffed and being led away by the military. Oh, and as Clark he gets a little kiss with Lois Lane (Amy Adams).

As the trailer nears its end, we see Supes and Michael Shannon’s villain (Zod?) flying vertically up the side of a building. At the finish, Superman is heard saying “My father believed, if the world found out who I really was, they would reject me out of fear. He was convinced the world wasn’t ready. What do you think?”

All the talk coming from Snyder and the other people on the panel painted the film as a more realistic take on the Superman legend. Like the Dark Knight trilogy, Man Of Steel (which Christopher Nolan is producing) is going to be darker and grittier than before, and this is where I think a giant misstep has been taken with the character. Sullen teens want Supes to be moody, but this ignore the basic goodness of the character. He needs to be in the brighter colours, the hyper-real world because that’s what Superman is. The very greatest of what we, the human race, can be. Making him gritty, making him real robs him of everything that makes him super.

I had my doubts when Zack Snyder was announced as director. I found 300 boring, and with Watchmen you can’t go wrong when you pretty much lift every frame of the comic and put it on screen. I haven’t seen Sucker Punch, but if the reviews are anything to go by, oh boy. His visual style is distracting and grates with me personally. I hope Snyder proves me wrong, and the trailer sounds fun, but I don’t hold out much hope.

And before I go, that teaser poster at the top looks awfully familiar, doesn’t it? Yet more use of the iconic art of Alex Ross, this time from Kingdom Come.